Liberal Arts and Money – A Comment

Jordan Weissmann of The Atlantic posted an article titled “Money Is a Terrible Way to Measure the Value of a College Major” http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/money-is-a-terrible-way-to-measure-the-value-of-a-college-major/283290/#comments

I commented on what I feel is the pecuniary value of a liberal arts education, and, on how earnings might reflect the quality of the liberal arts courses in a school.  Here is the comment.

“There is a subtle, but pecuniarily valuable, reason to study liberal arts.

Most successful executives that I know are excellent at four skills that they honed as undergrads whie they were reading novels, history, philosophy and political science.  The first is the ability to understand exactly what people are communicating.  The second is the ability to communicate clearly.  The third is an understandng of people.  And the fourth is the ability to recognize a clear logical argument vs. an emotional argument.

All of these skills can be honed in liberal arts courses.  What better way to learn them than, say, to read, understand, and explain what Tolstoy is saying in “War and Peace”?

So, actually, long term earnings may be a way of measuring how well a school is educating its students.  If a similar portion (a big if) from similar schools go into management, salaries could be on measure of a quality liberal arts education.

(These skils are also necessary in a democracy.  Two excellent essays on this have been published by Prof. Jonathan Jacobs at John Jay College, CUNY.  They can be found under the link “Why the Demise of Liberal Arts (And, Thus, Clear Thinking) Matter For The Future of America” on my blog inside-higher-ed.com.)”